Water pistol bandit indicted in Hancock County

ELLSWORTH, Maine — A Southwest Harbor man accused of robbing a local supermarket with a squirt gun was among 19 people indicted this month by a Hancock County grand jury.

Shaun P. Parsons, 34, was arrested last month in Ellsworth after he allegedly told a cashier at Shaw’s that he had a gun and made off with $686 in cash. With the help of witnesses who followed Parsons out of the supermarket, police tracked him down behind Pizza Hut on High Street and apprehended him.

Parsons was indicted on Aug. 9 on one count of robbery for the Shaw’s incident and two charges of theft by unauthorized taking. The robbery charge is a class B crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000. The theft charges are class E misdemeanors which each carry a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

According to police, Parsons had a water pistol with him during the July 21 robbery but did not show it to anyone during the incident. Police have said he may have intended to rob the store’s pharmacy, which was closed at the time, and that Parsons told them he consumed illegal drugs known as bath salts earlier that day.

According to Ellsworth police Detective Dottie Small, Parsons also is accused of stealing items from two other local stores earlier the same day. She said Wednesday that Parsons allegedly stole a carton of milk from Hannaford and shoplifted items from Walmart that he is suspected of using in the Shaw’s robbery.

Police have said employees at Hannaford called the police around 7:45 p.m. that night after seeing a man “behaving erratically” in the store. Officers arrived at the supermarket and spoke with Parsons, who gave police a fake name. Police told him at that point to leave the property. It wasn’t until later that Hannaford accused Parsons of stealing a carton of milk, according to police.

Small said Wednesday that the items he is accused of taking from Walmart are the green and orange plastic water pistol, a New York Yankees baseball cap, a camouflage head bandana and an extra-large button-down fishing shirt. The clothing items later were found outside Shaw’s after officers responded to the robbery report.

Small said a security video camera at Walmart recorded Parsons earlier on July 21 as he stood in front of the Walmart pharmacy counter for about two minutes until he turned and left. She said police believe he was thinking about trying to rob the Walmart pharmacy of drugs before he decided to leave.

Also indicted Aug. 9 was a Tremont man accused of selling heroin in February to another person.

Brennan S. Spofford allegedly sold 0.3 grams of heroin for $200 to another man from a truck at an unspecified location in Tremont on Feb. 28, 2012, according to a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency report.

Spofford has a prior drug conviction in federal court. According to information posted in the online database of U.S. District Court in Bangor, Spofford was sentenced in January 2002 to serve four months in jail and then four months of electronic monitoring after being convicted of possession with intent to distribute heroin and aiding and abetting the commission of a crime.

Because of the prior offense, Spofford was indicted this month on a class A charge of aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs. Class A crimes in Maine each are punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $50,000.

Spofford also is facing multiple civil scallop violations after law enforcement officials in March found 5,592 scallops still in their shells in nine lobster crates in a shed next to Spofford’s house. Spofford is not facing indictment on those civil charges which, unlike criminal charges, are not reviewed by grand juries.